


Will We Meet Again

by soIiIoquy



Series: The Bodyguard [2]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Force Bond, Kylo and Armitage have been together for a couple years now, Kylo cannot escape being Ben for his cousin, M/M, Poor Kylo, Reunion, Rey POV, he might as well spill his guts about everything he's ever done in his life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-13
Updated: 2017-04-13
Packaged: 2018-10-18 09:59:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10614564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soIiIoquy/pseuds/soIiIoquy
Summary: The last few weeks Rey had been plagued with dreams, dreams that were more like memories. The day Ben left, over and over.When Luke sent her to investigate the rumors of a force-sensitive child, Rey seized the chance to go off on her own for a little while. So after finding the rumors to be false, she detoured to Corellia to better enjoy her time away.Unexpectedly, her dreams abruptly collide with reality.[[This is a pseudo-epilogue to The Bodyguard]]





	

**Author's Note:**

> I know I took a while to get this up, sorry about that, but I wanted to space things out ^^; Not just with this series, but future things as well :)
> 
> Anyways...so, after finishing The Bodyguard—actually it was more like ever since I wrote the section with Ben and Rey—I kind of wanted them to have a chance to meet just like young Rey had hoped for. But adding something like that into the story just wouldn’t have worked, it would be such an obvious add-on that stuck out and screamed ‘I don’t belong, but I wanted to jam it in there because reasons’ and I didn’t want to do that. 
> 
> While a few possibilities bounced in my head regardless, all mostly vague, I then had one while I was half asleep and decided to go ahead and do a short where they do run into each other a couple years after Kylo and Armitage have escaped to a new life.
> 
> And it’s from Rey’s point of view too!

It was always nice to go out and leave the school. For years Rey couldn’t help but be terribly eager to accept whenever the opportunity came about. Not that she didn’t love her life at the school of course, but she’d seen nothing of the galaxy for so long that when her sixteenth birthday had arrived and Luke permitted Rey to go off with Han and the boys, she’d nearly burst with excitement.

Rey was twenty-four now and had gone on several missions, many trips with both her aunt and uncle, yet even now Rey always felt butterflies of anticipation whenever she went somewhere. Even if that somewhere wasn’t new.

This time Luke had sent her off to investigate the rumor of a force-sensitive child on Jakku. Rey had wanted Finn to accompany her like he had many times before, but the moment he’d heard the name of the planet, he’d blanched and vehemently refused. Rey wasn’t really surprised at his response; Finn didn’t have particularly good memories of the ship carcass wasteland that was Jakku. What felt like ages ago now, when she was nearly fourteen, Han, Chewie, and Poe had stumbled upon the boy after being forced to land on the planet to hide out and make some repairs when one of Han’s ‘totally legitimate’ business ventures went wrong and they’d fled. It had helped that Poe was young as well, about eighteen and terribly charming even then, otherwise Han and Chewie might have scared Finn away before they’d managed to say more than two words to the boy. Still, Rey rarely got a chance to be alone with Finn, really alone, and hadn’t since a younger Rey first worked up the courage to kiss the boy just three months after he’d arrived. Only a couple weeks after Ben had…

Rey’s disheartened pout quickly fell into a sad frown. Even now, with a little more than ten years passed, Rey was never able to avoid the painful ache that twisted in her chest whenever her cousin crossed her mind. It didn’t help either that lately she’d been having dreams of that night, that terrible night when Ben had left. Back then it had haunted her much the same way, night after night the memory replaying, causing her to wake up too early, the sky still dark, with tears on her cheeks and her body trembling.

She was older now and had come to terms with everything that had occurred that night, with Ben’s decision, so her returning dreams didn’t leave her sobbing into her pillow and jerking awake each time she had to watch Ben’s back as he left her. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t affected either.

A sudden shove against Rey’s side knocked her back to the world around her, a young twi’lek girl running past to join a group of three others, all equally young and chattering endlessly. Rey’s annoyance faded quickly and she smiled at the group of four friends, the scene nostalgic.

Adjusting the pack on her shoulder, Rey continued perusing the venders of the market just outside the port she’d landed in an hour ago. Jakku had been a bust; the rumor ended up being just that–a rumor. Yet, even with her time cut a little short, Rey didn’t want to pass up the chance to check out somewhere else, somewhere more active and stimulating, before heading home. She’d ended up stopping on Corellia, her interest in mechanics drawing her to the planet whose major export was starships. Unfortunately she didn’t have long to explore, Leia had contacted her earlier that day and asked Rey to meet her on Hosnian Prime—that was part of why she’d chosen Corellia as well; it was near her destination.

It’s not that she minded, she loved Leia, and Hosnian Prime was attractive and interesting, but Rey would have enjoyed more time to search around. Perhaps find somewhere bigger, more lively.

With her aunt in mind, Rey was examining a necklace, the shapes were abstract and simple, each piece a plain silvery metal with flecks of blue, something Rey thought the woman might like, when she felt a strong flicker in the Force. Her attention shifted away dramatically, the pout and soft irate huff of the vendor going unnoticed as Rey scanned the moving crowd. Something about that flicker had seemed familiar.

Again that swift pulse of what was no doubt power pushed hard at her again, but in a second it seemed to jerk away violently, as if recoiling from her on purpose. Rey narrowed her eyes and her focus, sifting through the many people around her to try and find a tendril of that spark.

She had always been good at pinpointing others; it was one of the reasons Luke often sent her to search for force-sensitives.

There were small and large presences all around her, some dull and some bright, a few with tiny traces of force-sensitivity but nothing that actually meant much in the grand scheme of things. At her far left she noticed a rather bright person, brighter than most she’d encountered in her time, the being moving quickly through the crowd. She was about to turn away when she caught the flicker again, and it was near that brightness and moving just as fast. The familiarity was so strong Rey couldn’t stop herself from heading back into the flow of the surrounding mass, working her way through to follow that brightness, the familiar power seemingly hidden beside it.

A flash of black hair caught her attention, the man tall and broad, his gait swift, oddly fluid, and…unique. A heavy intimidating strut that had only ever belonged to one person.

Ben. Ben?

Rey stopped dead in her tracks, ignoring the several exclamations of annoyance directed at her, people bumping and shoving as they moved around her like a rough current.

Could that really…? The man looked to be taller and broader than she remembered Ben had been, his hair a little longer too, but then again it had been a decade since she last saw him. It made sense that he’d look like that. And it made a sort of cosmically cruel sense that now when she saw him after all these years he was again walking away from her.

Breaths were already coming fast and deep for her, nerves and anger and excitement building up inside her like a tidal wave about to crash. Ben knew she was there, he’d sensed her, that’s why he was running. Rey was the only person who had ever been able to find Ben when he wanted to hide; even though it wasn’t often, it still happened. Frowning, Rey clenched her fists tight at her sides. No. This time Ben wasn’t going to run away. It’s not like she was going to drag him home, but she wasn’t about to let the man walk away when he’d told her they would meet again. He was right there and Rey was going to see him. Whether he wanted to or not.

Pinpointing the bright aura that had been virtually attached to the flutter of Ben’s presence in the Force, Rey began wading through the crowd again, swifter and with more purpose.

They had gotten decently far in the time she’d been frozen in shock, but were now stopped, and as the ships in the port filled her view, she knew why.

It took hardly a moment to locate their ship; the ramp wasn’t even up despite how quickly Ben seemed to want to escape her. She rolled her eyes. He’d probably just run in and started freaking out rather than working on leaving immediately.

Walking determinedly up the ramp, Rey was met with, not Ben, but the person who had the bright presence, a man it seemed. Tall, ginger, and looking somehow both bored and annoyed.

"You must be Rey," the man remarked, his words direct, his voice accented and even.

"Uh…" she stopped abruptly at that. "Yeah. Did…is Ben here?"

Crossing his arms, the man shrugged lightly. "Yes, though he’s not called Ben, nor is he exactly eager to see you."

Her brow drew down at that, but if she thought about it logically—which wasn’t the easiest thing to do at the moment—, it made sense. Ben ran away; of course he’d have changed his name. And it’s not as though she hadn’t recognized that Ben clearly didn’t want to see her, he _had_ been trying to get away after all, but hearing it confirmed still stung.

"Hn," the ginger suddenly scoffed. "You must be related then. There may not be much resemblance physically, but that expression is without a doubt the same."

"What are you talking about?" Her frown deepened.

"Sad and angry all at once, big brown eyes and a pouting frown. Definitely related." There was a faint smirk to the man’s lips, the pink hue appearing more prominent when paired with his fair complexion.

She distinctly felt as though she was being mocked somehow, the man seeming to look down on her more than just because of his height.

"Who the kriff are you, anyways?" She demanded, crossing her arms as well.

The man was about to answer when someone else spoke instead. The voice low and smooth, possessive, annoyed, and anxious all at once.

"He’s mine."

Rey jerked her head over to see the dark haired man she’d noticed earlier stepping into the hold. Again she froze. Staring her down, gaze just as intense as she remembered, was Ben. _Ben_. He was indeed bigger than when she’d last seen him, his voice deeper too. It wasn’t more than a second later that her eyes caught on the scar across his face, snagging her focus, tripping her up like her foot on an exposed root, jerking the breath from her lungs like her tunic on a twist of metal as she ran past. She couldn’t escape it if she tried. Unlike she remembered, however, the wound was no longer red and angry, it was a pale pink, almost shiny in the light, and, strangely, it suited him rather than marred him like they’d both believed it might. She’d always thought he was nice-looking when they were young, perhaps somewhat lanky and unconventional—not that Ben ever listened, regardless—, and now he seemed to have grown into himself. He was still a bit unusual, not your typical handsome, but attractive all the same, just like Rey had always promised him he’d be, scar included.

It took Rey a few moments to register _what_ Ben had said rather than that he’d appeared and spoken at all. Confused, she glanced over to the ginger, who seemed as impassive as ever, then back to Ben who still looked upset and nervous, the distressed emotions surrounding his mind and coating his aura like a thick film.

The ginger sighed with a shake of his head. "That’s hardly my name, Kylo."

"She doesn’t need to know your name, she’s leaving."

Eyes narrowing, the foreign name not even processing right now, Rey stepped forward, "I’m not leaving, Ben! I just found you!"

His lip curled minutely, "My name’s not Ben. And you are leaving."

"No!" Her arms tensed at her sides, her fists flexing open and closed.

It dawned on her that this scene was already becoming achingly reminiscent of the last time they were together, and from the torn expression on Ben’s face, he was no doubt thinking the same.

"Kylo," the ginger was suddenly at Ben’s side; Rey hadn’t even noticed him move. "Just talk with her."

"No," he growled softly.

"Kylo, stop. You know you want to, so just do it. Talking with her doesn’t mean going home."

Ben’s eyes shifted to look at the man beside him, his gaze soon softening and countenance easing.

"But—"

"Hush," the ginger pressed two slender fingers to Ben’s lips, "Do it. I’ll let you two be for now while I go back to the market to gather what we weren’t able to collect before you dragged me here without a single word."

The man went to step away but Ben swiftly grabbed his wrist. "No, I don’t want you going alone."

Huffing with an annoyed crease to his pale brow, the ginger countered, "I am perfectly capable of defending myself, of which you are well aware."

"That’s not the point," Ben pressed, annoyed now as well. "Anything can happen, and I’d rather be there to watch your back." 

"The only time I have ever been truly blind-sighted since meeting you was also the first and only time you had to do much more than be my shadow. And I had already taken care of two of the three assailants, with a quarrel in my shoulder no less, before you burst in with your dramatics to get the third." The man was pointing a telling finger with the hand Ben still held captive, "Which I still argue I could have taken down without your help."

" _Bantha shit_. We’ve had more than one close call since then. Don’t be foolish—"

"I believe that’s your job, not mine." The ginger had a small teasing grin on his lips.

Ben narrowed his eyes.

Rey kept hers wide in awe and confusion. She continued to watch them bicker back and forth, standing right up in each other’s faces, Ben tense and leaning toward the other man, and the ginger seeming as cool and collected as before, though with an occasional impish edge. All as though he’d already won. Perhaps he had.

"Armitage!" Ben said suddenly, or it seemed that way since it was louder than they’d been speaking.

He had his hand around the ginger’s wrist again, Armitage apparently, who had been walking away. Whatever conversation they’d been having, the man appeared to have deemed it over. Armitage rolled his eyes before turning back.

"Just talk, Kylo. If I need you, I’ll call, alright?"

Ben looked hesitant, chewing the inside of his cheek. Rey inhaled sharply, yet softly, at seeing the familiar tick.

Armitage sighed and stepped back to stand beside Ben once more. "I’ll be fine. Besides," he shrugged, "There’s a Jedi Knight and force-sensitive idiot right here should something go wrong."

Both Rey and Ben narrowed their eyes, though each for significantly different reasons.

For the first time in a while, Rey spoke up. "What makes you think I’d do anything for you?"

The man casually raised his shoulders again, "Simple. You love Ben. Ben is Kylo, and Kylo loves me. You’d do it for him. Though really, you’d do it anyway."

"You don’t know me," she bristled.

It irked her that this man, Armitage whatever, was acting as though he knew her. True, it was possible that Ben had told the man about her, more than just who she was in general, but she didn’t get that impression from the way Armitage spoke. The way his pale green eyes were looking at her felt different, deep and piercing, like he was reading pages inside her mind without having gotten in to begin with.

Ben apparently noticed her discomfort and frustration and looked on her with a gaze that said not to think too hard and to just go with it.

The ginger moved to leave again, but Ben’s attention jerked back to him and kept him from getting away still. He was pinning Armitage with a look Rey had never seen on him, it was reminiscent of a few, but not quite right. The closest she could identify was pleading, but somehow soft rather than desperate or sad. There was a charged silence between them, their eyes fixed on one another, and then Armitage sighed heavily with a shake of his head and stepped up close to Ben.

The two were nearly the same height, so Armitage barely had to tilt up his chin to press his lips on Ben’s. It was clear that the ginger had intended for it to be quick and chaste, but Ben’s hand was swiftly at his cheek, the tips of his fingers in Armitage’s hair, and pulling them closer together.

Rey felt her cheeks warm, a flush no doubt coloring the tanned skin at the sight. It wasn’t even just that it was her cousin, or simply a display of affection, it was the notice of that same charge as before sparking between them, a brilliant burn that Rey could practically feel. Quickly turning her eyes away, Rey waited for them to stop, her hands fidgeting with the beige fabric of her robe.

When she heard steady yet louder than average breathing, Rey chanced a peek, and saw their foreheads pressed together, Armitage’s eyes half-lidded and looking down while Ben’s were open and locked on the man.

_‘…you’re too overprotective, Kylo.’_

Rey’s flush deepened considerably when the clear, clipped hum of the ginger echoed in her thoughts. She must have unintentionally gotten caught in their connection somehow, their conversation spilling over along with the charge they sparked.

 _‘I can’t help it,’_ Ben’s familiar voice responded. Hearing him, especially the heavy, more soothing echo of his mind, made it difficult for her to remember to shut them out.

_‘You haven’t been my bodyguard for a long time, love.’_

A subtle grin warmed Ben’s features as he continued to gaze at Armitage.

_‘I’ll always be your bodyguard, baby.’_

The ginger rolled his eyes, but said nothing, neither in the connection or out loud.

Hearing the endearments was the push Rey needed, and she quickly reinforced her own mental shielding to shut them out. Unfortunately, the burn of her embarrassment at the accidental eavesdropping refused to dissipate as she watched Ben tip his chin upward to press a light kiss on Armitage’s lips again. Though it was quite subtle, the curl that pulled up the corner of Armitage’s mouth looked surprisingly genuine compared to the smirk he’d worn earlier.

"I’ll see you later, Kylo." The ginger whispered barely loud enough for Rey to hear, then stepped back.

He ran a slender hand through his hair, correcting it a little, before striding toward her and beginning down the ramp, only bothering to cast a single glance to her as he went past.

With Armitage now gone, Rey redirected her focus on Ben. He wasn’t looking at her, still standing as he had when the ginger was with him, his eyes cast down and his expression a mix between blank and somber.

"Ben?" She chanced.

He frowned almost immediately at the name. "My name’s not Ben. It hasn’t been since the day I left."

Oh, right, yeah. Rey wanted to roll her eyes, but resisted for fear of pushing away any further opportunity she could have to continue talking with Ben. That other man had been calling him Kylo. So, Kylo it would be.

"I’m sorry. Kylo, right?" She felt odd saying the foreign name, but smiled when she saw him nod.

Several quiet moments passed, Rey feeling as awkward as Ben looked, before the man suddenly sighed, the release seeming to deflate him.

"Come on then." He waved a hand toward her, indicating that she should follow him as he stepped past the threshold and farther into the ship. She perked with a smile she couldn’t quite stop from forming and swiftly followed after him.

"So," Rey drawled uncertainly as they walked. "I’m guessing that was your…boyfriend?"

Ben simply nodded, silent and barely cooperative, causing Rey to frown, her earlier smile gone as her lips twisted in frustration.

"He seems…" She was going to say nice, since that tended to be the traditional expression, but it felt wrong. She wouldn’t say he wasn’t nice, per say, but he didn’t seem exactly ‘nice’ either. "Not what I would have expected," she finished after a minute pause.

Ben finally looked to her as they entered a space that was likely their mess, his hand casually directing her to sit as he went to fetch something.

"And what exactly would you have expected?" He asked, setting a bottled drink on the table before sitting down across from her, a bottle of his own in his large hands.

"I guess I wouldn’t have thought him your type," she shrugged one shoulder, twisting the cap off the bottle; the print on the label was a language she didn’t recognize.

"I don’t have a type."

"Dark hair, shining eyes, charming smile," Rey listed, using her fingers to tick off the traits.

Frowning, Ben stared at his drink, "Poe wasn’t a type. He was just a crush from a very long time ago. Besides, you can hardly consider one man enough evidence for a type."

She grinned lightly, the once tight spot in her chest starting to loosen and grow warm, "I guess that’s true. And hey, red always was your favorite color."

Ben’s head snapped up at her comment and she chuckled at the flushed frown on his face.

"His hair had nothing to do with it," Ben replied quickly, on the defense still, but his irritated glance soon shifted away. "Not exactly," he murmured.

Rey drew up higher, the bottle held tight in her hands, and leaned just a bit forward, genuinely curious about anything Ben was willing to tell her. _Anything_. Just so long as he kept talking.

"What do you mean?"

He sighed, sitting back and slouching in his seat. "It was a number of things, though I guess at first it was immediately his looks. But also his presence in the Force." He glanced up to her right as she’d begun to take a drink, "I’m sure you noticed it."

"Mhmm," she hummed in agreement against the rim of the bottle at her lips, the slightly bitter but still somewhat sweet taste of the drink tingling on her tongue. As she pulled the bottle away from her mouth it made an unintentional sound, a loud echo somewhere between popping and smacking, causing her eyes to widen briefly in response. Clearing her throat, "Uh..yeah," Rey began, sheepishly trying to brush off the moment, "It’s pretty bright and strong. I’m surprised he’s not got any Force sensitivity."

Ben said nothing about her minor embarrassment and subsequent stumbling, though Rey was certain she’d caught as the corner of his mouth twitched up just slightly for the swiftest of seconds. Instead, he merely nodded, continuing on as if it hadn’t happened.

"It stunned me at the time, when we met. All brilliant and beautiful…"

It was clear that last part wasn’t meant to be heard, the mumbled words so quiet they were hardly audible to begin with. Soft and reverent and strange to hear from her cousin both back when she knew him and especially now, this tall, broad man, dark and pale, practically brimming with power and intensity.

Pretending not to have heard, Rey asked, "How _did_ you meet?"

"Oh, uh…" Ben chewed at the inside of his cheek again, looking away and radiating uncertainty.

Her brow furrowed, a twinge of hurt tainting her growing warmth, her short, chewed nails scratching unconsciously at the bottle’s label, "What? Can’t you tell me?"

"Well, it’s…it’s sort of…complicated. Armitage is…you could say he’s a runaway, too. Like I was. But, well, his disappearance is a little more— It’s a bigger deal. We can’t risk anyone finding him." Ben had looked directly at her with that last sentence, deep and dark and serious in his voice and gaze.

"Be- _Kylo_ , I won’t tell anyone, I promise."

He was silent for another minute, just staring at her, likely sizing up this newer, older version of his once gawky and spirited little cousin, before nodding curtly.

"A little over two years ago now, I took a job to be the personal bodyguard for the son of Senator Brendol Hux."

Rey’s eyes widened marginally at the name. She knew of Senator Hux. He was one of Leia’s least favorite members of the Senate, and they butted heads often—although, for a while now Brendol had seemed to have fallen away from the Senate, around even less often than before and never with much to say when he was; Leia was certain the man would lose his position soon. From what she remembered of the Senator, Brendol looked nothing like Armitage, though there was the same air of superiority. Rey tried to think back, but she couldn’t recall if she’d ever seen the ginger before or not. However, she got the feeling Armitage was the sort of person one remembered.

"Yeah, I know," Ben remarked, noticing her gaping stare, "But I didn’t really care who he was. As far I was concerned the job was too good to pass up, even if it would be boring."

Rey settled her shock, and drew on a small smirk, "I’m guessing it didn’t turn out to be quite as boring as you thought."

He scoffed, waving away her attempt to tease him. "Oh no, it definitely had its fair share of tedium. But it also had Armitage, and he was a puzzle from the moment we met. Drove me crazy." Ben ran a hand through his hair and Rey smiled at another one of her cousin’s old habits that had remained a part of the man.

"He certainly seems…different." She couldn’t think of a word that wouldn’t sound rude or inaccurate.

"Well, he’s not average, that’s for sure."

"Neither are you."

Ben huffed a small laugh, "Yeah," he agreed, running his thumb thoughtfully along the still unopened bottle, "That’s another thing we have in common, I guess."

"What else is there? Besides being runaways now, of course."

"Armitage was like me," Ben commented softly, keeping his eyes from Rey. "Broken and lonely."

Rey’s small smile fell, her eyes becoming as sad as the downward slope of her lips. Sometimes, even with how emotional Ben could be, Rey would forget just how torn up inside Ben had felt back then, and how even now it must have left its scars, ones that ached every now and again. She could never really understand it, and Ben was good at hiding it too, in his own way, but she had tried. If anything, she tried to simply be there.

Slowly, she reached a hand across the table, unable to touch him as he kept back, slouching in his seat, but nonetheless she kept it there, staying close like she always did. "I’m glad for you. Finding someone who could understand, and maybe make it a little better." Rey smiled gently.

Causing her to nearly break out of her encouraging mien, Ben returned her smile, one small and warm and just so close to the one he used to give her. The smile that he only ever wore for Rey.

"Yeah," he replied quietly. "But," he rolled his eyes away, "I didn’t find out any of that until the end of the four months I worked there."

Rey leaned back, tilting her head in confusion. "Why not?" 

"Well, most of the time he just frustrated me in so many ways; we frustrated each other. We argued a lot, teased and annoyed one another. Armitage baffled me constantly, and every time I thought I figured a little more of him out, he’d go and do something to skew it all. And to make matters worse, I _liked_ him," Ben groaned, as if reliving the past frustration, "Had from the beginning, and I just kept falling for him as time went on, regardless of how hard I tried not to. But Armitage was just…he was so difficult to read. He could be strangely soft on occasion, usually infuriating, and sometimes terribly cold."

Ben sighed heavily, running both hands through his hair. "Anyway, it was the night before the one where he fired me—yeah, he fired me—, that I confronted him again about…some things. It…" Ben hesitated, his cheeks flushing deeply, "It didn’t go exactly as I’d thought it would, but I was just fine with the outcome. Far beyond fine, really. But the next day, Armitage was distant, he was cold and quiet and kept ignoring and avoiding me however he could despite me being with him almost constantly. With what had happened the night before, I wasn’t just confused, I was angry. So that night I was ready to scream, and I did some—I think I almost put cracks in the walls or snapped the furniture, actually—, but somehow it all devolved again and ended somewhere completely unexpected. Armitage sort of…broke."

Rey watched as Ben leaned against the table, the barely emptied bottle clutched between his large palms, and his eyes locked intently on it. There was a sadness in the brown depths, one mixed with a fire Rey couldn’t pinpoint as good or bad.

"Suffice to say I learned a lot of things that night. And after some talk— well, not really much talk, I told Armitage how I felt and that I thought he should leave with me."

"Just like that?" Rey blurted in her confusion, her hand quickly snapping up to cover her mouth.

With a grin at her response, the man nodded. "Yeah. But that’s not exactly how it happened. Armitage is too smart and meticulous to just _do_ things like I would, especially something like that, especially with who he was and what he did and all." Ben grimaced, his grip tightening on the bottle briefly, and Rey worried he might shatter it.

"So what did you do?" She asked, both curious and hoping to distract Ben from doing so.

"Armitage devised a plan. We waited for a month; he would arrange things for himself, for us, while I basically did most of the waiting. After that he left on a ship he’d arranged passage on and I had to meet him somewhere else, because _of course_ he couldn’t just meet me off planet." Ben’s grip tightened again as he spoke, the weight of his past frustration having grown and was now pushing against Rey’s senses. She’d forgotten what it felt like when Ben’s ever-prevalent emotions would slip free and nudge her, sometimes bowl her over even. It was surprisingly nice after all these years.

"But now you’re together," Rey finished for him, hoping to lighten his tension, while smiling with a tilt of her head to try and catch his eyes.

He noticed and finally looked up. "Yes."

Smiling broadly, Rey couldn’t help but tease him. "Knowing you, I’m surprised you aren’t already married." When Ben dropped his head onto the table with a dull thud and a groan, Rey was helpless to stop the giggles that bubbled up in her chest and throat.

"I’ve tried," Ben grumbled, "He keeps saying no."

Against her better judgment, Rey’s soft giggles burst into outright laughter, in part because of what Ben had said, but largely because of how he’d said it. Groaning pathetically again into the surface of the table, that classic pout of his no doubt puffing up his already full lips, Ben’s entire large frame had appeared to have flattened in his melancholy.

When Ben jerked his head up and sent daggers with his gaze and harsh frown, Rey put a hand over her mouth to try and stifle herself. "I’m sorry," she breathed, "I’m sorry." She cleared her throat, trying to force a more serious expression, "That’s not funny at all."

"You’re still a terrible liar, Rey."

"It’s not like I was _really_ trying," she huffed, crossing her arms. "Now tell me why your ginger won’t marry you."

He exhaled loudly, "I don’t know. He keeps saying things like ‘we don’t need a ceremony and gaudy jewelry to belong to each other.’" Rolling his eyes, Ben dropped his cheek onto his fist, elbow leaning heavily against the table. "That’s the only reason he’s ever given, when he deigns to give one in the first place."

"Well," Rey mused, "He’s not wrong."

Ben swiftly turned a glare on her. "Isn’t there some unwritten rule that says you have to side with me on things like this?"

"There’s no such thing. And anyways, does it really matter? No bond can beat out what you already have."

He regarded her with a puzzled quirk to his dark brow.

"Oh please," she grinned with a sigh, "Even if I had the smallest amount of Force sensitivity possible I could pick up on your bond. It’s palpable when you two are together, like the air is charged."

Sitting up straight so quickly it was like the man had been shocked, Ben leaned forward with intense eyes and a low voice, "Don’t tell him that."

"What? Why not?" She searched his gaze, completely baffled at the abrupt reaction, "You guys have been together for years, you clearly love each other, why would it matter to know you’re force bonded?"

"I don’t know for sure, but I’ve managed to keep it from him so far. I mean," he groaned dolefully yet again, and Rey could already sense he was about to start rambling, "He had been falling for me too those four months, but while I told him my feelings that night we planned things, he told me he loved me _once—_ actually he thought it at me and honestly it was sort of an in the moment thing _—_ but then he didn’t say it again until nearly _three_ _kriffing months_ after!"

Rey stared quietly at him for a moment, then, narrowing her eyes curiously, she asked, "You didn’t ask him to marry you before he actually _said_ it, out loud, and not in the heat of the moment, did you?"

Ben looked away far too fast to be innocent. "That’s not relevant," he mumbled.

"Oh my gods, Ben— _ugh_ , Kylo, whatever," she shook her head, exasperated. "The guy clearly has trouble with emotions, don’t shove your equally troubled extra ones down his throat. Give him time and maybe one day he’ll actually say yes, and then you can tell him the truth about your bond too. At least he knows you’re force-sensitive."

"Uh, yeah…"

It took only a moment of his silence for Rey to understand what it meant. ‘"You didn’t tell him for ages, did you?"

Kriffing hell, sometimes Rey just didn’t understand what was wrong with her cousin. Of course she knew Ben was, well, _Ben_ —and it made her feel warm inside knowing that he _was_ still Ben, at least somewhat, even after all these years—, but honestly, sometimes it was like the guy had no function for common sense due to the autopilot of his own emotions and interests. It was absurd, often got him into trouble when they were young, clearly still did. And yet…somehow Rey had never seemed to truly mind—not that she didn’t still smack him in the head when he was an idiot, though.

"Not _ages_ ," Ben admitted sheepishly, tapping his finger against the bottle in his grasp, "Just…not until that night I told him I loved him."

"Oh Ben," Rey groaned, both frustrated and tickled, a small smile pulling at her lips. "Sorry, Kylo."

The man sighed, light and resigned, shrugging as he sat up again. "It’s alright. For you, I can be Ben."

Soft and warm, he drew on that smile, the one that was just for her, only Rey, a gentleness that belied the reality that was her cousin, both Ben and even more likely Kylo as well. Rey suspected Armitage received a version of that gentle side Ben had always kept hidden, smothered deep down, one that was never really quite as soft unless turned on her, or perhaps now on Armitage.

She reciprocated the expression, the warmth filling her chest even more, "I missed you, Benny." When she reached out her hand this time, his large rough one covered it, wrapping firmly around her equally solid grip.

"I missed you too, little scavenger." His gentle smile lingered for a small time, everything seeming perfect and full of potential, before it suddenly morphed into one that was entirely too reminiscent of his mischievously teasing grin from their childhood. "So how’s your crush? Still pining away after all these years, or did you finally make a move?"

Rey’s eyes went wide as her face grew hot, a flush quickly shifting from pink to scarlet. She was deeply pleased that she was good at masking her thoughts and Ben had a preference for avoiding mind reading, otherwise Rey would have burned with the thoughts that hit her at his abrupt question. Smacking her free hand over her face, Rey groaned even louder than Ben had earlier, before dropping her head back to stare miserably at the ceiling. 

"Oh my fucking gods, Ben!"

 

**Author's Note:**

> **GUESS WHAT!! (◕ ワ ◕✿)**
> 
> Due to the completely amazing and unexpected response to this ‘series,’ I had decided to keep the story in mind in case any ideas came for later short pieces, much like this one. HOWEVER, a few ideas did come and it turned out they worked well meshed together, so I decided The Bodyguard will have a SEQUEL!! :D It shouldn’t (hopefully) be as lengthy as its predecessor, and I can’t say for sure how long it will take until it’s finished, but I have an outline already and a little bit written. However, I also have several other pieces in the works, so that might delay things a bit too. ^^;
> 
> OH! And I don’t know if anyone noticed, but this ending—not _quite_ the very end—mirrors Ben/Kylo and Rey’s goodbye in the flashback from part one. I thought it was a good way to wrap up their reuniting here :D I also gave Rey a nail biting habit...i don't know why.
> 
>    
> Anyways… I hope you liked that little glimpse into their future, and remember, any and all forms of love are appreciated!! <3  
> oh, and here's my [tumblr](http://nonsensicalsoliloquy.tumblr.com/), in case anyone is interested (◕ᴗ◕)


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